Data Storytelling with Excel

Overview

Turn raw data into clear, persuasive visual narratives through a structured, hands-on workflow in Microsoft Excel. This one-day course teaches professionals how to reduce visual clutter and apply cognitive design principles to communicate actionable insights with clarity and impact.

Syllabus

Module 1: Foundations — Data, Stories, and Audience

Identify what makes a data story work and distinguish data from information
Recognize internal and external data sources and understand how data flows across the internet
Apply audience analysis and learning style awareness to tailor your data story

Module 2: Reading and Perceiving Visualizations

Interpret a range of chart types including bar, heat map, KPI, stacked, and drilldown visualizations
Apply visual perception principles — order, hierarchy, clarity, and convention — to evaluate any chart
Use Gestalt principles, emphasis, and annotation to guide audience attention

Module 3: Building Effective Visualizations

Select the appropriate visualization type for comparative, time series, correlation, and geographic data
Use color intentionally and avoid common deceptive chart techniques
Follow a step-by-step process for building a data story using the analytics value chain

Module 4: Excel for Data Discovery and Analysis

Perform data discovery and integrity checks to qualify data before analysis
Use AutoSum, sorting, filtering, and math functions to explore datasets
Build Pivot Tables and Pivot Charts to summarize and visualize transactional data

Module 5: AI, Data Quality, and Applied Case Studies

Use AI tools and prompting best practices to confirm and refine a data story
Apply data quality principles and joining techniques to prepare datasets for analysis
Complete hands-on case studies covering duplicate analysis, stratification, Benford's Law, sampling, and analysis automation